“It was now that shone the brightest attribute of Mrs. Thrale, sweetness of temper. She took this rebuke with a candour, and a sense of its justice the most amiable; she nodded her approbation of the admonition; and, returning to her chair, quietly sat down, as she afterwards said, like a pretty little miss, for the remainder of one of the most humdrum evenings that she had ever passed. “Strange, indeed, strange and most strange, the event considered, was this opening intercourse between Mrs. Thrale and Signor Piozzi. Little could she imagine that the person she was thus called away from holding up to ridicule, would become, but a few years afterwards, the idol of her fancy, and the lord of her destiny! And little did the company present imagine, that this burlesque scene was but the first of a drama the most extraordinary of real life, of which these two persons were to be the hero and heroine; though, when the catastrophe was known, this incident, witnessed by so many, was recollected and repeated from coterie to coterie throughout London, with comments and sarcasms of endless variety.” ----- Footnote 15: James Harris, author of ‘Hermes; or a Philosophical Inquiry into Universal Grammar,’ and several other works. Entering Parliament in 1761, he became a Lord of the Admiralty, and subsequently a Lord of the Treasury, etc. He died in 1786. Footnote 16: Author of ‘Travels in Spain.’ Footnote 17: ‘Nothing is fit to be heard but Pacchierotti,’ was the general verdict, according to Walpole. Footnote 18: A celebrated Italian singer, wife of Colla, an Italian composer. She was engaged at the Pantheon to sing two songs nightly, for which she received £100. Footnote 19: A performer of great Continental reputation, whose merits were much controverted in England. ‘Is, or has the Gabrielli been, a great singer?’ asks Walpole of his Florence correspondent. ‘She has, at least, not honoured us but with a most slender low voice.’ Footnote 20: Duets between Esther Burney, now married, and her husband, who was also her cousin and a Burney. Esther was the beauty of the family, and became a wife early. Footnote 21: Fanny should rather have written, _Count_ Orloff. Footnote 22: Anthony Chamier was member of Parliament for Tamworth, and Under-Secretary of State from 1775 till his death in 1780. He was an original member of the celebrated Literary Club. Footnote 23: A name by which Mr. Brudenel, afterwards Earl of Cardigan, was known. Footnote 24: Afterwards Lord Malmesbury. Footnote 25: